8 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress (in 2023)

Are you looking for the best online content optimization tools for WordPress?

You can increase the search traffic to your WordPress website or blog by optimizing your online content. Luckily, there are plenty of easy-to-use tools you can use to make your content more readable and rank higher on search engine results pages.

In this article, we’ll share the very best online content optimization tools that experts use to grow their website traffic.

8 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress

What Is a Content Optimization Tool?

When you optimize your posts for SEO, you can improve your search engine rankings and consistently get more traffic to your WordPress website.

That’s why we created a handy checklist of tips to optimize your blog posts for SEO. This is a list of all the steps we use on our own blogs, such as keyword research, crafting effective titles, internal linking, improving readability, and much more.

But even using our checklist, optimizing your content is a lot of work. Luckily, there are handy online tools that can recommend specific steps you should take to improve your content so it ranks higher on search engine results pages.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best online content optimization tools for WordPress.

1. All in One SEO

The AIOSEO SEO plugin for WordPress

All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best SEO plugin for WordPress websites. It’s beginner-friendly and at the same time, comes with advanced optimization features, and gives you SEO insights from your WordPress dashboard.

Once you finish setting up All in One SEO, it will automatically perform an SEO audit so you can see the overall SEO health score for your website.

It will also give you a detailed report with practical suggestions to improve your SEO score.

SEO audit in AIOSEO

AIOSEO will also help you find semantic keywords for your focus keyword, and the headline analyzer tool will give your headline a score and offer tips to make your headline even better.

The plugin’s Link Assistant offers suggestions for relevant posts you can link to and the anchor text to use. Simply click the ‘Add Link’ button, and the link will automatically be added to your post.

Link assistant add link

All in One SEO will also automatically analyze readability issues and make suggestions for you in the analysis section. It also lets you take your XML sitemaps to the next level and allows you to add schema markup for your WordPress website.

Pricing: Starts at $49.50 for the Basic plan that supports one site. You can also get started using the free plugin which offers fewer features.

2. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

SEO Writing Assistant is a content optimization tool created by Semrush, one of the best SEO tools on the market. You can use it to check your content in real-time for SEO suggestions and improve the overall SEO score of the content on your WordPress website.

You start by entering a focus keyword to generate content templates based on the top 10 results for that phrase. After that, you will be given scores on readability, SEO, originality, and tone based on rival results.

SEO Writing Assistant Overall Score

Next, you look for ways to improve your content. For example, you can use Writing Assistant to optimize your article headline, include recommended keywords, adjust the article length, make sure the tone sounds natural and casual, and check for plagiarism.

We show you how to do all of this step-by-step in our guide on how to use the SEO Writing Assistant in WordPress to improve SEO.

Pricing: Starts at $119.95/month for a Pro account. A free trial is available.

3. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO helps you write articles that read well and rank high. It helps you structure your posts, provides a list of relevant keywords you should include, and offers a content score and real-time feedback on how to optimize your content.

This software offers many of Clearscope’s features at a more affordable price. For example, when you paste your content into the app, it will give you a content score, show you which keywords you are using and which you aren’t, and display an outline of the post’s structure.

Surfer SEO Report

Surfer SEO also offers an audit showing actionable steps to improve your content, a keyword research tool, and a page speed comparison so you know whether you need to improve your page’s load time.

Pricing: Starts at $49/month for the Basic plan when paid annually. This plan supports two users. There is a 7-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

4. Clearscope

Clearscope

Clearscope offers a wide range of tools that helps you optimize your online content. For example, it can show you the keywords you should use, the questions you need to answer, how to structure the article, how long the post should be, and how to improve readability.

You create a report by typing in a query such as a post title, and Clearscope will analyze relevant content from your competitors to determine which keywords should be included in the post and much more.

Next, you can paste the contents of your article to see how it can be improved. This will show you the length of your post compared with the typical length of your competitors’ posts and the readability level.

Clearscope Report

You’ll see a list of important keywords, and those you have already included will have a checkmark next to them. In the top left of the screen, you will see a content grade, and you can improve your grade by adding keywords that are not already in the post.

Clearscope also has a Keyword Discover tool. After typing in a keyword, you will see related keywords, questions that are asked related to that keyword, and which keywords are trending.

Clearscope Keyword Discovery

Pricing: Starts at $170/month for the Essentials plan which is for one user. Business and Enterprise plans have custom pricing. You can request a free demonstration of the software.

5. Frase

Frase

Frase is an affordable content optimization tool that identifies relevant content you should include in your post and provides a smart outline for your content.

Once you write or paste your content, smart insights will pop up on the right of the screen. It will also be given a content score so you can see how much it needs to be improved.

Frase Content Optimization

The app can autocomplete or rewrite sentences for you using artificial intelligence, suggest transition words that add interest to your writing, and recommend topics to include in your post by analyzing the most popular Google search results.

Pricing: Starts at $12.66/month for the Solo plan when paid annually. A 7-day free trial is available.

6. MarketMuse

MarketMuse

MarketMuse is another excellent content optimization tool, but its pricing makes it more suitable for enterprise-level companies than small businesses. It offers applications to help you research, compete, optimize, and more.

You’ll see a personalized difficulty score of your existing content so you can see how your content competes with articles on other sites. It uses natural language rather than keywords to suggest content you should add to your post.

MarketMuse Content Optimization

It also offers tools that perform keyword research and competitive content analysis.

This will show you the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ content in a chart so you can add content that they are missing.

MarketMuse Competitive Analysis

Pricing: Starts at $600/month for the Standard plan, which supports one user. You can add additional users for $99/month each. The Premium plan costs $12,000/year, and there is also a limited free plan for one user so you can test the software.

7. Ahrefs

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an excellent keyword explorer and rank tracker tool and comes with a site audit tool to optimize your entire website.

Using the Keyword Explorer, you can come up with keyword ideas by simply typing a keyword into the search box. You’ll then see a whole list of keyword suggestions.

Its Rank Tracker feature lets you add the keywords you want to track to your Ahrefs dashboard. It shows you an overview of your search engine rankings. You can see your visibility percentage, average position, traffic, SERP features, and changes in position.

Ahrefs Overview

You can also use Ahrefs to see the keywords that your competitors are ranking for, so you can create new content pieces targeting keywords related to those subjects.

The Content Explorer feature finds the most popular content for any keyword or topic. You can see why those posts rank higher and replicate their strategy in your own content.

Pricing: Starts at $99/month for the Lite plan. Pay annually and get two months free.

8. Headline Analyzer (Free)

Headline Analyzer

Headline Analyzer is a free tool that helps you evaluate your headlines and improve the copy to make it more engaging and click-worthy. It provides data-driven insights and suggestions for creating irresistible SEO titles.

It can be tricky for beginners to come up with a headline that instantly captures your users’ attention and gets them to click your website link. This is where you can use the headline analyzer tool.

All you have to do is enter your blog title, and the Headline Analyzer will give it an overall content score along with suggestions on how to improve it.

The tool will also tell you if your title needs to be longer or shorter to make sure it displays properly on SERPs (search engine results pages). It even shows you a preview of how your blog will appear in Google search results.

Pricing: Absolutely free.

We hope this tutorial helped you find the best online content optimization tools for WordPress. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic, or check out our list of the best WordPress landing page plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 8 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress (in 2023) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Start a Video Blog (Vlog) And Make Money in 2023

Do you want to start a video blog and make money?

Vlogging is a powerful way to connect with people and build a personal brand. However, if you simply upload vlogs to third-party platforms like YouTube, then you may struggle to grow your audience, make money, and become a successful vlogger.

In this article, we will show you how you can start a vlog and make money.

How to start a video blog (vlog) and make money

Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Video Blog?

There are many website builders that can help you create a vlog site, but we recommend using WordPress and a separate video hosting platform.

To learn more about why WordPress is such a good choice, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.

There are two types of WordPress software: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. We recommend using WordPress.org, also called ‘self-hosted WordPress.’ This will give you full ownership and control of your site.

Using WordPress.org allows you to install third-party plugins and themes, including plenty that are designed specifically for vloggers.

Also, while you can upload videos to WordPress, it’s far better to use a separate video hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Videos take up a lot of your hosting resources, which will slow down your website. Instead, we recommend uploading your vlogs to a separate hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo, which has all the server resources you need.

After uploading your vlogs to one of these sites, you can then embed your vlog in a WordPress page or post by simply copying and pasting a link. WordPress has built-in support for most major video hosting platforms.

If you really want to save time and impress your viewers, then you can use a plugin like Smash Balloon to create a video feed that will update automatically every time you post a new vlog.

An embedded YouTube feed, created using Smash Balloon

If you don’t already have a video hosting platform in mind, then don’t worry. Later in this guide, we’ll help you find the perfect platform for your vlogs.

Step 1. Setting Up Your Video Blog Website

To create a video vlog, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting.

Although the WordPress software is free, hosting and domain names are where the costs can really start to add up.

A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start from $7.99/month. This is a lot for hobby vloggers, new creators, or anyone who is working with a tighter budget.

Thankfully, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users over 60% off on web hosting and a free SSL certificate as part of this deal. This is absolutely essential if you plan to sell premium videos and make money from your vlogs. You will also get a free domain name when you sign up!

Simply click the link below to create a vlogging website for as little as $2.75 per month.

Because you get a free domain when you sign up with Bluehost, you’ll need to be sure it’s the right fit for your video blog. For expert tips, check out our guide on how to choose the best domain name.

Once you’ve completed the purchase, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to log in to your web hosting control panel. This is your hosting account dashboard where you can manage your vlog, including setting up email notifications and asking for WordPress support if you need it.

It’s also where you’ll install the WordPress software, so let’s do that now.

Step 2. Install WordPress on Your Video Blog

When you sign up with Bluehost using our link, you’ll get access to a one-click WordPress installer. Simply log into your Bluehost account and click on ‘One Click Install.’

Installing the WordPress software

You can now follow the onscreen instructions to set up WordPress.

If you’re using a different WordPress website host like SiteGround, Hostinger, HostGator, or WP Engine, then you can see our complete guide on how to install WordPress for all the top hosting providers.

Once WordPress is set up, you’re ready to start customizing your vlog site.

Step 3. Select a Video Theme

WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that change how your vlog looks and acts.

There are lots of different premium and free WordPress business themes to choose from. You can generally categorize these as multipurpose WordPress themes, or niche industry themes. However, most WordPress themes are designed to show text.

Since we’re starting a vlog, we need a theme that’s designed specifically for videos.

A WordPress video theme

Even if you’re using a separate video hosting platform, embedded videos still take time to load. With that in mind, it’s important to find a lightweight theme that won’t slow down your website. Wherever possible, we also recommend using a theme that has built-in lazy loading.

On top of that, vlogs often need special features such as parallax scrolling, lightbox popups, and fullscreen video backgrounds.

An example of a WordPress vlog theme

That’s a lot to keep in mind, so you may want to look at our expert pick of the best WordPress video themes.

Another option is to use a landing page builder plugin such as SeedProd. SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder and comes with more than 180 templates.

This includes an entire section of ‘Webinar’ templates that are designed specifically to show videos on your WordPress website.

SeedProd's professionally-designed vlog templates

SeedProd also has a ready-made ‘Video’ block that you can drag and drop onto any page.

For more information, please see our guide on how to create a landing page with WordPress.

The SeedProd page builder plugin

Once you’ve chosen a video theme, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

After installing a theme, you may want to customize it by going to Appearance » Customize in the WordPress dashboard. This will launch the theme customizer where you can fine-tune the theme settings and see your changes in the live preview.

Customizing a WordPress video blog theme

If you’re using one of the newer full-site editing themes, then you’ll need to go to Appearance » Editor instead.

Here, you can fine-tune the theme using blocks.

Customizing a WordPress vlogging theme using the FSE

Just remember that you can customize your theme at any point. You can even completely change your WordPress theme, if you realize it doesn’t quite meet your needs.

This means you don’t need to finalize your site design now. In fact, it may be easier to fine-tune your vlog once you’ve added some content.

Step 4. Create a Custom Homepage

WordPress comes with two content types called posts and pages.

You’ll typically use posts to create articles and blogs, while pages are static “one-off” types of content. For example, you might publish an about page, a privacy policy, or a custom archive page.

There are a few different ways to show videos in WordPress. However, since we’re creating a video vlog you’ll typically embed one or more videos in a blog post.

By default, the WordPress homepage shows your posts in reverse chronological order, so your latest vlog appears at the top of the homepage.

A custom homepage on a WordPress vlog

However, you may want to move this blog list to another page, and use a custom homepage instead. This custom homepage can introduce your vlog to visitors and let them know what you have to offer.

You might even create a YouTube gallery of all your best videos, which is a great way to catch a visitor’s attention and make them want to watch more of your content.

Smash Balloon allows you to create all kinds of galleries, including showing a specific YouTube playlist or favorites feed, a single video, or even your latest live stream.

Adding a YouTube vlog feed to your WordPress website

For step-by-step instructions on how to create an attention-grabbing homepage for your video blog, please see our guide on how to create a custom homepage in WordPress.

Once you’re happy with the design, it’s time to set it as your homepage. To do this, go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard.

How to set a custom homepage in WordPress

Here, scroll to ‘Your homepage settings’ and select ‘A static page.’

Next, open the ‘Homepage’ dropdown and choose the page that you want to use.

Changing the homepage on a WordPress video blog

After that, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’ Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new homepage in action.

With that done, make sure you create a separate blog page to display your vlogs.

Step 5. Set Up Your Video Hosting Platform

Before you can start adding videos to your WordPress website, you’ll need to upload them to a separate video hosting platform. In this way, you can show countless high-resolution videos on your website without affecting its performance.

For more on this topic, see our post on why you should never upload a video to WordPress.

There are lots of different video hosting platforms that you can use, but we recommend YouTube as it’s the most popular choice.

It’s free to create a YouTube account and you can upload as many videos as you want.

Uploading videos to YouTube

YouTube even has a Partners Program that you can join to make money from your videos. This program also offers more benefits like analytics, longer videos, and editing tools.

Since it’s such a popular platform, there are lots of great WordPress plugins for YouTube. For example, you can use plugins to quickly and easily embed a YouTube playlist in WordPress.

Adding a YouTube playlist to a vlog using Smash Balloon

If you don’t want to use YouTube, then there are many other popular platforms including Vidyard, Wistia, and SproutVideo. For a closer look at all the top video sites, please see our expert pick of the best video hosting sites for bloggers.

After choosing a platform, you’ll need to create an account and upload all the vlogs that you want to show on your WordPress website.

For instructions on how to do this, check out the online documentation for your chosen video hosting platform.

Step 6. Create Your First Vlog

To create your first vlog, simply go to Posts » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

WordPress has a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your vlogs. Here, you can add text, images, audio clips, and more.

How to create a new vlog post

For an in-depth look at the editor, please see our WordPress block editor tutorial.

The easiest way to add vlogs to WordPress is by using the built-in auto-embed feature. If you’re using one of the big video hosting platforms, then you can simply paste the video’s URL into the WordPress content editor, and WordPress will handle the rest.

Just head over to your chosen video hosting platform and find the vlog that you want to show on your WordPress blog. You can then simply copy the video’s URL.

After that, switch back to the WordPress dashboard and paste the URL in the content area. If you paste it into a standard Paragraph block, WordPress will automatically try to place it in the correct block, such as the YouTube block.

Embedding a YouTube video in WordPress

Even if you don’t see the platform-specific block, it will use the Embed block and display the video inside the content editor.

For more information, please see our detailed guide on how to easily embed videos in WordPress blog posts.

How to show a YouTube vlog in WordPress

As you’re working on the vlog, you can see how it’ll look to visitors by clicking on ‘Preview.’

This will open the page in a new tab.

How to preview a vlog in WordPress

The WordPress post editor also has sections for Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your vlogs so it’s easier for visitors to find interesting content. To learn more, please see our guide on how to add categories and tags in WordPress.

When you’re happy with how the vlog looks, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ button in the top-right corner of the screen.

To add more vlogs to your website, simply follow the same process described above.

Step 7. Add a Contact Form to Your Vlog

Some viewers might want to contact you directly. This may include affiliate marketers, sponsors, advertisers, and other brands who are looking to build relationships with creators, or other vloggers who want to collaborate.

These people could ring your phone number or send a message to your business email address, but we always recommend adding a contact form to your website.

This makes it easier for potential partners to contact you, so you don’t miss out on any opportunities to grow your brand and make money from your vlogs.

The easiest way to add a contact form to your WordPress website is by using the free WPForms plugin. WPForms comes with a built-in Simple Contact Form template that you can customize using the drag-and-drop editor.

Adding a contact form to a WordPress vlogging site

You can then add the form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the ready-made WPForms block.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

Step 8. Help Visitors Find Interesting Vlogs

Once you’ve added some content to your vlog, it’s a good idea to add a navigation menu so visitors can find their way around the different videos.

Adding a navigation menu to a video blog (vlog)

The exact location of your menu will depend on your WordPress theme. Most themes have several options, so you can create multiple menus and then show them on different areas of your vlog.

Whether you create a single menu or multiple menus, it’s easy to add navigation to your vlog. For a complete guide, please see our post on how to add a navigation menu.

Adding a navigation menu to a WordPress vlog

Menus encourage people to explore your site, but sometimes visitors may want to search for a specific vlog. WordPress comes with a built-in search feature, but it’s quite basic and not very good at finding relevant content.

That’s why we recommend using SearchWP, which is the best search plugin for WordPress.

It is very easy to use and gives much more accurate search results. It allows visitors to search for a keyword in the post or page title, content, URL slug, categories, tags, taxonomies, WordPress excerpts, and even comments.

All of this can help visitors find interesting vlogs, fast.

How to improve WordPress search with SearchWP

For step-by-step instructions on SearchWP, please see our guide on how to improve WordPress search.

Step 9. Optimize Your Vlog for SEO

If you want to get more viewers, then you’ll need to optimize your vlog for SEO. This will help search engines understand your content and show it to people who are looking for videos just like yours.

WordPress SEO is a huge topic that can be confusing for new vloggers. With that in mind, we recommend using All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO).

The AIOSEO SEO plugin

AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and has everything you need to get your vlogs onto the first page of Google, without having to learn any complicated SEO jargon.

AIOSEO comes with the easiest setup wizard that helps you choose the best SEO settings for your business. AIOSEO will even scan your vlogs and show an actionable checklist on how you can optimize that specific vlog.

An actionable checklist for improving SEO

Additionally, AIOSEO has a video sitemap feature that you can use to show search engines what’s the most important content to index.

To help you get started, please see our ultimate guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

Step 10. Notify Users About New Vlogs

Did you know that 70% of people who leave your site will never come back? Thankfully there are lots of ways to turn abandoning visitors into loyal viewers.

To start, it’s smart to create an email newsletter so people who enjoy your vlogs can subscribe. After that, you can email these subscribers every time you post a new vlog.

You can also keep them engaged with your brand by sending them fun surveys and polls, notifying them about any giveaways and contests you’re running, or even simply asking them for feedback on your latest vlog.

An example of an online giveaway or contest

All of this can help you create a sense of community and build a stronger relationship with your viewers.

If you do build an email list, then you’ll want to make sure your messages arrive safely in the subscriber’s inbox and not in their spam folder. With that in mind, we recommend using an SMTP service provider to improve your email deliverability rates.

Another option is to use push notifications with software like PushEngage to send targeted, personalized messages to viewers after they leave your vlog.

Push notifications are short, clickable notifications that appear as a popup on the user’s desktop or mobile devices. Some of the biggest websites in the world use push notifications to keep users engaged, including Facebook.

These notifications go directly to the user’s web browser or mobile device so they have a high chance of getting the person’s attention, which makes them perfect for notifying viewers when you post a new vlog.

To learn more, see our guide on how to add web push notifications to WordPress.

Step 11. How to Make Money From Your Video Vlogs

Creating lots of quality, engaging vlogs takes a lot of time and effort, so you may want to make money from your videos.

If you’ve created a contact form, then potential sponsors and partners already have a way to contact you, which is a great start. However, there are lots more ways to make money online with WordPress.

Here are some of the best ways to make money from your vlog.

  1. Google AdSense

There are many reasons why it’s smart to embed videos on your own website, rather than simply uploading them to platforms like YouTube.

One major benefit is that you can show Google AdSense ads next to your videos.

Google AdSense

When you sign up for Google AdSense, Google acts as a middleman between you and the advertiser. Instead of you having to find the right partners for your vlog, Google allows advertisers to bid for keywords matching your content. This allows you to get the best possible rates for the ads on your vlogging website.

For more details, please see our article on how to properly add Google AdSense to your WordPress blog.

  1. Affiliate marketing

Many vloggers make money by recommending products and services to their viewers. For example, many lifestyle vloggers film daily routine videos showing off their favorite skincare or fitness products.

By using affiliate links, you can earn money every time a viewer buys a product or service based on your recommendation.

For the best results, it’s a good idea to only recommend quality items that you already use and trust. If you encourage viewers to buy poor-quality or scammy products, then you’ll damage your band and almost certainly lose viewers.

There are plenty of affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress that can help you make money by promoting affiliate products, but we highly recommend PrettyLinks or ThirstyAffiliates to all vloggers.

To get started, please see our step-by-step affiliate marketing guide for beginners.

  1. Ask for Tips and Donations

If you build a strong, positive relationship with your viewers then they may want to support your work as a vlogger. This is particularly true if you’re a hobby vlogger or someone who is just starting out.

Although they’re mostly used by non-profits, some vloggers use donation forms so that viewers can support their work. These forms are often presented as ‘buy me a coffee’ or ‘buy me a beer.’

An example of a donation form

To learn more, please see our guide on how to create a donate form in WordPress.

  1. Create a Membership Site

Most of the time, you’ll want your vlogs to be publicly available so you can get as many views as possible and build your audience.

However, some vloggers may want to create a video membership site in WordPress. This allows people to pay for different perks, such as early access to the latest vlogs, exclusive live streams, or premium members-only videos.

You can also offer perks that don’t involve videos, such as a members-only forum, blog posts, or the ability to chat with you directly on channels like Discord.

The easiest way to create a membership site is by using MemberPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market and allows you to accept payments, create unlimited subscription levels, restrict access to video pages based on levels, and more.

Creating video memberships with the MemberPress plugin
  1. Sell Your Videos as Digital Downloads

Depending on the kind of vlogs you create, you may decide to sell some of your premium videos as digital downloads. For example, if you’re a health and fitness vlogger then you might create videos teaching your followers different exercise routines.

For some niches, this can be a way to monetize the audience you’ve built from your vlogs.

Easy Digital Downloads is the best platform to easily sell digital products. You can get started in minutes and accept credit card payments with Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

The Easy Digital Downloads WordPress eCommerce plugin

With Easy Digital Downloads, you have complete control over how you distribute your videos. You can allow customers to download files as many times as they want or restrict file downloads by time or attempt.

To start selling your premium videos, please see our complete guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to start a video vlog and make money. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic or check out our list of the best email marketing services.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Start a Video Blog (Vlog) And Make Money in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.

7 Best Free Autoresponder Tools of 2023 (Pros & Cons Compared)

Are you looking for the best free autoresponder tools to start sending automated emails?

The good news is that you don’t need to wait until your site starts making money. There are lots of free autoresponders that you can use to grow your email list.

In this article, we’ll take you through some of the best free autoresponder tools, comparing their pros and cons.

Best free autoresponder tools (Pros & cons compared)

Why You Need an Autoresponder Email Service

An autoresponder is any tool or service that sends automated messages to the people on your email list. Smart marketers use autoresponders to create a series of emails and then send those messages automatically based on certain rules, conditions, and user actions.

For example, if you’re designing a coming soon page, then you might ask visitors to register their interest by typing in their email addresses.

A coming soon page, created using SeedProd

You can then use an autoresponder to notify these people when your site goes live. This can get you extra visitors and create a buzz around your site’s launch.

Many bloggers use an autoresponder sequence to welcome new subscribers or notify existing subscribers of new posts in WordPress.

Some plugins come with built-in autoresponder features. For example, if you’re using WPForms then you can send a confirmation email after WordPress form submission using the plugin’s built-in features.

The WPForms email autoresponder settings

Another option is to use a stand-alone autoresponder. With the right autoresponder, you can create advanced workflows that automatically send the right email to the right person, at the right time.

These automated emails can re-engage disinterested customers and keep them engaged, get you more sales, drive more people to your website, and much more.

Most top email marketing companies offer auto-responders. However, if you’re just starting out then paying for email marketing can add a lot to your website building costs.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the best free autoresponder tools to help you get started no matter what your budget.

1. Constant Contact

The Constant Contact autoresponder

Constant Contact is the best email marketing service in the world. It’s our top pick for creating autoresponder sequences.

Pros

  • Constant Contact’s free trial lasts a generous 60 days. That gives you two months to build up your email list and start making money online blogging with WordPress.
  • You can sign up for the free trial without entering your credit card details, so you won’t be charged unless you actively choose to continue using Constant Contact.
  • It’s quick and easy to create an account. Simply click a few options and Constant Contact will show some helpful resources based on your answers.
  • If you already have a WordPress website, then Constant Contact can create a unique branded email template. Just enter your website’s URL and Constant Contact will create a template using the colors, images, and logos from your website.
  • Pick from over a hundred ready-made email templates.
  • The drag-and-drop interface is really easy to use. This is especially helpful if you’re new to email marketing.
  • The Constant Contact support team is easy to reach through live chat software, phone, and email.
  • They also have a library of resources and online training. If you’re in the United States, then you can even go to their in-person live seminars.

Cons

  • Constant Contact doesn’t offer a free-forever plan. After the 60-day free trial, you’ll need to pay if you want to keep using your email list. If you enjoyed the free trial and want to continue, then you can get 20% off using our Constant Contact coupon.
  • To keep using the automated features after your free trial, you’ll need to pay for the Email Plus plan.

Pricing

Constant Contact’s Core plan starts at $9.99 per month. However, if you want to use the email automation features, you’ll need the Email Plus plan, which starts at $45 per month.

2. Sendinblue

The SendInBlue autoresponder

Sendinblue is a marketing automation platform that combines both email and SMS marketing, so you can send SMS text messages to your WordPress users.

They’re one of the fastest-growing email autoresponder platforms in Europe.

Pros

  • Sendinblue has a generous free-forever plan that allows you to store as many email contacts as you want. You’re just limited by how many emails you can send each day.
  • The majority of Sendinblue’s tools are available on their free plan including the marketing automation tools.
  • You get access to email support on the free plan, so you can contact the support team if you’re having any problems.
  • Sendinblue’s marketing automation tool has a user-friendly drag-and-drop Workflow Editor. This allows you to create powerful automations without having to write any code or learn complex tools.
  • Track the actions that each contact takes on your website, and then send emails based on their behavior.
  • A fully customizable sign-up form so you can add email subscriptions to your WordPress blog or website.
  • Sendinblue has over 40 responsive email templates that look just as good on mobile and smartphones, as they do on mobile devices. You can also create your own templates using the intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
  • If you’re creating an email campaign for a client, then they may have provided some ready-made HTML assets. To save time, you can upload these HTML templates to Sendinblue, and then use them as the basis for your campaign.

Cons

  • All emails sent from a free plan have Sendinblue’s branding, which can make your campaigns look less professional. The paid Starter plan also has the Sendinblue branding, but you can remove it by purchasing a $9 per month addon.
  • Although the marketing automation tools are included in the free plan, these tools are limited to 2000 contacts on both the free and Starter plans. This can make it difficult to grow your email list.
  • The free plan has a 300 emails per day limit. This might seem like a lot when you’re just starting out, but you can hit this limit surprisingly fast. With that in mind, you shouldn’t choose Sendinblue simply because they offer a free-forever plan.

Pricing

Unlike some other email providers on the list, Sendinblue‘s free plan is completely free, forever, with no limit on how many contacts you can create.

Need to send more than 300 emails a day? Then you’ll have to upgrade to one of their paid plans, which start at $25 per month.

Just be aware that Sendinblue’s plans are always based on how many emails you send each month, and not on the size of your email list.

3. HubSpot

The HubSpot autoresponder

HubSpot is a popular marketing automation platform and one of the best CMRs for small businesses. They also have a free plan that’s a perfect introduction to HubSpot’s all-in-one marketing platform.

Pros

  • The free plan includes a CRM that creates a contact record for each subscriber. You can use this information to create personalized email campaigns that feature the most relevant subject lines, links, attachments, and content.
  • HubSpot’s free plan includes many tools that can complement your email marketing. This includes a form builder, live chat, ad management, and more.
  • The email editor has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that lets you easily create a call to action, add images, and customize the email to match your own branding.
  • Schedule emails so they arrive in the subscriber’s inbox at the best time, regardless of time zone differences.
  • Optimize your emails for different devices.
  • HubSpot has a selection of goal-based templates that you can choose from, or you can build your emails entirely from scratch.
  • Analyze your campaigns using HubSpot’s email analytics tool. 
  • Integrates with Uncanny Automator, which is one of the best marketing automation tools for small businesses. You can use Uncanny Automator to automatically add visitors, customers, and event attendees to your HubSpot mailing lists.

Cons

  • You can’t remove the HubSpot branding on the free plan, which can make your business seem less professional.
  • The free plan limits you to 2,000 emails per month and 1,000,000 contacts.
  • Advanced features like A/B split testing and email segmentation are only included in HubSpot’s higher-tiered paid plans. As your business grows, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of your email list.

Pricing

HubSpot’s free plan allows 2,000 emails per month and a generous 1,000,000 contacts. It also comes with all of HubSpot’s free tools, including the CRM, forms, landing pages, live chat, and more.

Paid plans start at $45/month when paid annually.

4. Omnisend

The Omnisend email autoresponder and eCommerce platform

If you’re looking for an autoresponder that works across multiple channels, then Omnisend offers powerful SMS, email marketing, and web push notification features.

Omnisend comes with ready-made autoresponders for cart abandonment, purchase follow-up, and other eCommerce workflows.

With that being said, it’s a particularly good choice for online marketplaces, stores, and anyone who sells digital downloads or physical products online.

Pros

  • All of the marketing automation features are included in the free plan.
  • Use an unlimited number of triggers in your automation workflows.
  • Personalize your autoresponders with dynamic content.
  • Create powerful custom workflows using the drag-and-drop Automation Editor.
  • Pre-built automations that you can use to welcome new signups.
  • Unlimited segmentation. If you run an eCommerce site, then Omnisend can even segment users based on the different stages of the customer lifecycle.
  • Sales and performance reports so you can continuously review and refine your autoresponders. This includes open, click, deliverability rates, and revenue data for each autoresponder.
  • 24/7 email and live chat support.

Cons

  • The free plan limits you to 500 emails per month, 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications. If you want to send more messages, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard or higher plan, which starts at $16 per month.
  • If you plan to use SMS autoresponders, then the free plan doesn’t come with any SMS credits, so you’ll need to buy these separately.
  • The free plan comes with a built-in form builder and signup forms, but there’s no option to remove the Omnisend branding.

Pricing

Omnisend’s free plan allows 500 emails per month, up to 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications. You can also add an unlimited number of contacts to your mailing lists.

If you want to send more emails, SMS, or web notifications then you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard plan ($16 per month) or Pro plan ($59 per month).

5. FunnelKit Automations

The FunnelKit Automations WordPress plugin

Formerly Autonami, FunnelKit Automations is the best marketing automation tool for WooCommerce stores.

You can use this free plugin to create automated emails and SMS campaigns to help you recover abandoned shopping carts, nurture leads, send automated coupons, and more.

Pros

  • No limit on the number of contacts you can add, or how many emails you can send. 
  • Use any email service provider such as Sendinblue, Mailgun, Postmark, or SendGrid.
  • Build automations from scratch using the drag-and-drop editor, or import any of FunnelKit’s pre-built automations with a single click. 
  • Onboard and educate new customers by sending welcome emails to new users.
  • Re-engage disinterested customers with automated win-back campaigns and first purchase anniversary campaigns.
  • Upsell to customers by creating automated post-purchase follow-up emails, and cross-sell with recommended product emails.
  • Build more effective cart recovery campaigns, with detailed information about recoverable, recovered, and lost carts.
  • Customize all of WooCommerce’s built-in emails using the intuitive drag-and-drop workflow builder.
  • ‘Unsubscribe text’ is pre-inserted into all emails, so you can be confident your autoresponders are GDPR compliant.
  • Send targeted emails using audience segmentation and personalized merge tags.
  • Get useful analytics directly inside the FunnelKit dashboard, including email open and click-through rates.
  • If you’ve already used an email marketing tool or CRM, then you can easily import your contacts with a CSV file.

Cons

  • The free plugin only gives you access to a limited number of pre-built automations. You can unlock over 20 extra automations by upgrading to FunnelKit Automations pro. 
  • You can’t create conditions-based automations using the free plugin, which can make it more difficult to create personalized autoresponder sequences. 
  • You’ll need to upgrade to FunnelKit Automations Pro to see advanced analytics and to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce.
  • The pro version adds CRM-like features, including detailed contact profiles that show each person’s latest engagement, total spend, last order date, and more. 
  • Many of the more advanced analytic and reporting features are exclusive to the pro version. This includes the ability to see your top-performing automations, most popular emails, total orders, and total revenue.
  • The pro version integrates with many popular WordPress plugins including LearnDash, WishList Member, AffiliateWP, and more. 

Pricing

The free FunnelKit Automations plugin has everything you need to create powerful autoresponders for your WooCommerce store. However, if you want to unlock more automation features, then you’ll need to upgrade to the FunnelKit Marketing Automations Professional or higher plan, which starts at $219 per year.

6. AWeber

The AWeber autoresponder

Founded in 1998, AWeber is one of the most established autoresponder tools. This popular email marketing service has powerful autoresponder features, and also offers a free plan that lets you send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers.

Pros

  • AWeber’s free plan includes all the features you’d expect from a premium plan, including a drag-and-drop editor, hundreds of templates, and access to thousands of professional stock images.
  • Easily add AWeber to your WordPress website using the AWeber WordPress plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
  • Ready-made landing page templates, so you can create high-converting landing pages for your email campaigns.
  • AWeber has powerful automation and segmentation tools. This allows you to create some very detailed autoresponder series.
  • Integrates with lots of other services, including OptinMonster, Unbounce, Elegant Themes, and more.
  • If you’re selling online, then AWeber integrates with all the top eCommerce solutions including Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, Etsy, and more.
  • While on the free plan, you can access all the support materials including master class sessions and live webinars.
  • AWeber regularly brings out new features that all customers can access, including people on the free plan.
  • Allow subscribers to fill out forms, purchase products, book meetings, and more without leaving their inboxes, with the AMP interactive email feature.
  • Send web push notifications to people who’ve opted into receiving them.
  • 24/7 customer support.

Cons

  • AWeber’s free plan limits you to 3,000 emails per month and 500 subscribers.
  • You’re also limited to 1 landing page and 1 email automation.
  • The free version has the AWeber branding, with no way to remove it.
  • If you do upgrade, then AWeber definitely isn’t the cheapest option out there. It has more features than some other email autoresponders, but these do come at a price.

Pricing

You can send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers, using the free AWeber plan. If you want to add more contacts or send more emails, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which starts at $16.50 per month when billed annually.

7. MailerLite

The MailerLite autoresponder

MailerLite has become a popular autoresponder tool over the past few years. They have a generous free plan and lots of great features.

Pros

  • You can use autoresponders and advanced segmentation on the free plan, without any need to upgrade.
  • The free plan includes lots of features, such as landing pages, multi-user accounts, and A/B split testing so you see which campaigns get the most conversions.
  • There’s no limit on the number of emails you can send per day. Instead, there’s a monthly limit of 12,000 emails.
  • Create personalized email newsletters by segmenting your mailing list, and then assigning different blocks to different target audiences. MailerLite will then show each subscriber the content that’s most relevant to them.
  • There’s a drag-and-drop editor and pre-built blocks that you can use to create your emails without having to write any code. You can add and remove blocks easily, change fonts and styles, and more.
  • Built-in triggers for many common actions, so you can automatically send an email when a subscriber joins a group, completes a form, clicks a link, and more.
  • If you run an online store, then MailerLite has special eCommerce triggers. This allows you to create emails that help recover abandoned cart sales, cross-sell and upsell products in WooCommerce, and more.
  • Add up to 3 triggers to every email workflow, so subscribers can enter the workflow at multiple points.
  • You can connect MailerLite and WooCommerce using a MailerLite extension.

Cons

  • The free plan doesn’t include any special email templates. However, the drag-and-drop builder has a simple default template with space for a logo, header, image, and other important content.
  • If your list grows beyond 1,000 people, then you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
  • Your emails will all have the MailerLite logo, which can hurt your brand image.
  • Although the paid plans have 24/7 support, the free plan only includes Monday-Friday email support.

Pricing

MailerLite has a free plan that you can use for as long as you want. Paid plans start at $9 per month when billed annually, but if you want to add more than 1,000 subscribers, then you’ll need to buy a paid plan. These prices vary depending on how many subscribers you have, but you can expect to pay at least $15 per month for 2,500 subscribers.

Bonus: ConvertKit

The ConvertKit autoresponder service

ConvertKit has a free plan that allows you to build unlimited landing pages and opt-in forms. It’s a good way to start building your email list, but you can’t use the automation features on the free plan.

Despite this, we’re including ConvertKit in our list as it’s a popular email marketing solution, and you can try the automation features as part of a 14-day free trial.

Pros

  • The free ConvertKit plan includes unlimited landing pages, email opt-in forms, and one-time email blasts, which are also known as ‘broadcasts.’
  • Many website owners do lead generation by offering a free digital download to new subscribers. ConvertKit can automatically deliver a digital file every time someone subscribes to your mailing list.
  • ConvertKit can segment your subscribers in lots of different ways. You can also assign tags to customers based on entry points, interests, actions, and other characteristics.
  • ConvertKit comes with a drag-and-drop page builder that you can use to create attractive landing pages for your email campaigns.
  • To help you get started, ConvertKit has 30 fully-customizable templates that you can choose from. All of these templates are responsive, so your emails will look just as good on smartphones and tablets, as they do on desktop computers.
  • Setting up your free account is really quick and easy. In just a few minutes you can register with ConvertKit and start building attractive landing pages.
  • Identify the forms and pages that are getting the most email signups, with ConvertKit’s list growth reporting.
  • Customize and personalize your ‘unsubscribe’ page so people don’t opt out of your mailing list.

Cons

  • The free plan limits you to 1,000 subscribers.
  • You can’t use the automation features on the free plan, so you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan in order to create autoresponders. Automation is included in the 14-day free trial though, so you can try before you buy.

Pricing

ConvertKit has a limited free plan. After this, the cheapest plan is $29 per month, which allows up to 1,000 subscribers. The next tier is $41 per month for up to 3,000 subscribers when billed annually.

Bonus: Mailchimp

The Mailchimp autoresponder service

Mailchimp is a very popular email marketing service with a forever free email marketing service plan.

When it comes to autoresponder features, Mailchimp is quite limited when compared to other providers in our list.

For that reason, we don’t recommend Mailchimp anymore since there are better solutions available in the market, but we cannot create a list of the best autoresponders without including Mailchimp due to the platform’s sheer popularity.

If you do want to use Mailchimp, then we’ve created an ultimate guide to using Mailchimp and WordPress to help you get started.

Pros

  • Automatically import the logos, brand colors, fonts, and images from your website, to create branded emails.
  • Grow your email list with signup forms and landing pages.
  • Monitor and analyze your campaigns with built-in reports and analytics.
  • Mailchimp integrates with over 300 apps, including Canva, LiveChat, Help Scout, Stripe, and more.
  • Built-in drag-and-drop templates that are easy to set up and customize.

Cons

  • The free plan limits you to 2,500 emails per month. If you reach that limit, then all your email campaigns and autoresponders will be paused automatically.
  • The free plan only includes email support for the first 30 days. After that, the Mailchimp knowledge base documents will be your main source of support.
  • The free plan adds the Mailchimp badge to your emails and signup forms, and there’s no option to remove the branding.
  • You can’t schedule emails, create automated workflows, or add branching points to your email series, without upgrading to a paid plan. This is the major reason why we suggest you use one of our Mailchimp alternatives instead.
  • Segmentation and dynamic content are premium features, making it difficult to create personalized email campaigns.
  • Mailchimp’s customer support, pricing structure, and features are definitely not the best out there.
  • Mailchimp’s automation tools aren’t as powerful as its competitors, which is a big problem if you’re mainly interested in using Mailchimp as an autoresponder.

Pricing

Mailchimp has several different pricing systems, which can be a bit confusing. You can either choose a monthly plan (from $13 per month for the Essentials plan) or you can use “pay as you go” pricing.

Note: Mailchimp’s pricing tiers are based on how many contacts you have. This includes anyone who has unsubscribed and people who haven’t confirmed their email addresses. With that being said, you may end up paying for people who are never going to convert.

Choosing the Free Autoresponder That Suits You Best

So now you might be wondering: which free autoresponder tool should I choose? The answer will vary depending on your business, and how you plan to use the autoresponder.

Small Businesses

When you’re building a business, you need access to quality support and a powerful platform.

For small business owners, Constant Contact is our top pick. Their free trial lasts 60 days which gives you plenty of time to try it out. It’s quick and easy to get started, and there’s lots of support available if you need it.

You’ll have access to all of Constant Contact’s features as soon as you sign up, and you don’t even need to enter your credit card information.

The best part is they offer support via phone agents, live chat, and Twitter. They also have a knowledge base and a support portal where you can get help from the community.

Run an online store on WooCommerce? Then FunnelKit Marketing Automation Engine & CRM has the pre-built automations, triggers, and actions you need to create powerful eCommerce autoresponders.

Meanwhile, if you’re an established business with a bigger budget, then we highly recommend looking at Omnisend or Drip.

They offer advanced segmentation and powerful automation, but we didn’t include them in our list above because they don’t have a free option.

Non-Profits and Community Organizations

If you’re a non-profit or community organization, then you’ll probably want an autoresponder and email marketing tool that’s completely free.

SendinBlue is a good option if you have a small email list of 300 people or fewer, who you want to email more than once a week.

Meanwhile, MailerLite is a better choice if you have a larger list that you want to email weekly or less.

If you value phone support, then nothing will beat Constant Contact, and that’s why many non-profits use their platform because it offers all the support they need.

Note: We have tried all the top major email autoresponder software including many that are not in our email platform lists above such as ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, Ontraport, Mailjet, Campaign Monitor, InfusionSoft (now Keap), Klaviyo, Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot by Salesforce, Sendloop, iContact, Emma, TotalSend, SharpSpring, MailPoet, and more.

The email marketing platforms that we’ve chosen to include in our list provide the best automation workflows, deliverability, and pre-built email marketing tools for the best price.

Make Sure Your Emails Make It Through

If you do add an autoresponder or email marketing service to your website, then you’ll want to make sure your emails arrive safely in the person’s inbox, and not in the spam folder.

Here, a good SMTP service provider can improve your email deliverability. You can also use WP Mail SMTP to configure your WordPress emails to ensure they are sent correctly.

The WP Mail SMTP WordPress plugin

For more on this topic, see our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best free autoresponder tools. You may also like our guide on how to create automated workflows in WordPress, and our comparison of the best business phone services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Free Autoresponder Tools of 2023 (Pros & Cons Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Download WordPress for Free (Step by Step)

Are you looking to download WordPress to create your website?

WordPress is an open-source project, and you can download it for free. Although many web hosting providers now install WordPress for you automatically, you can always download and install it manually on your own server or computer.

In this article, we’ll show you how to download WordPress for free, as well as what you need to do next to get it installed.

How to Download WordPress for Free (Step by Step)

Why Is WordPress Freely Downloadable?

WordPress is free for anyone to download and use to build any kind of website without any restrictions. That’s because WordPress is an open-source community project that tens of thousands of talented people contribute to.

According to our WordPress market share report, over 43% of websites on the internet use WordPress.

There is a core team of developers that lead the project development, but anyone can contribute patches, fix bugs, make features, suggest features, and more.

Note: When we speak of the WordPress open-source project, we’re talking about self-hosted WordPress.org. This is different from the WordPress.com hosting service. For more details, see our comparison between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

While the core software is free, there are still costs involved in making a WordPress website. The cost of a website depends on your budget and goals, but it can be quite affordable.

The main costs will be a domain name, which will be your website’s address on the internet, and website hosting, which is where you will store your website files and database.

The good news is that most website hosting providers will automatically install WordPress for you, and you will probably never need to manually download or install it yourself.

However, if you are an intermediate or advanced user, then you always have the option of installing WordPress manually. That’s handy if you wish to do a custom WordPress install, or have WordPress running on your own server or computer.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to download WordPress for free, along with what you need to do next. Here are the topics we’ll cover in this tutorial:

How to Download WordPress for Free

First, you need to visit the WordPress.org download page. This page offers two options:

  • You can download WordPress and install it yourself as we’ll cover in this article, or
  • You can set up WordPress automatically with a hosting provider.
Click the 'Download WordPress' Button

We recommend most users take the second option. Reputable hosting providers such as Hostinger, Bluehost, Dreamhost, or SiteGround will install WordPress for you automatically in just 5 minutes. To learn how that works, see our complete guide on how to install WordPress.

But if you’re an advanced or intermediate user and want to install WordPress manually, then go ahead and click the ‘Download WordPress’ button.

This button will also indicate which version of WordPress you are downloading. In this case, it is WordPress 6.1.1.

After downloading the file from WordPress.org, you just need to unzip it. This will create a ‘wordpress’ folder on your computer that contains all the files you need to create a WordPress website.

The Downloaded Unzipped WordPress Folder

Now that you have downloaded WordPress for free, you can use it to install or reinstall WordPress on your server or create a local WordPress installation on your computer.

How to Install or Reinstall WordPress Manually on a Web Server

Installing WordPress manually requires a few added steps, but may be easier than you expect. You will need the files you downloaded and an FTP client or a web-based file manager.

You can also use this manual method when updating WordPress or uninstalling and reinstalling WordPress.

Uploading the WordPress Files to Your Web Server

Your first job will be to use FTP to upload the WordPress files you have downloaded to your web server. You can think of FTP as file management for the internet.

Most web hosting providers offer an FTP server and send your FTP username, password, and other details via email when you sign up for your WordPress hosting account. You can also find your ‘FTP Accounts’ information in your hosting account’s cPanel or Site Tools dashboard.

Most Hosting Providers Offer Both FTP and a Browser-Based File Manager

As an alternative to FTP, most hosting providers also provide a browser-based file manager application. This can be accessed from your web hosting control panel as pictured above.

We’ll use the FileZilla FTP client because it’s free and works on Windows and Mac.

First, you need to open FileZilla and select File » Site Manager from the menu. Next, you should click the ‘New site’ button and provide a title for your website. Once you’ve done that, you should enter the login details in the ‘User’ and ‘Password’ fields.

FTP Requires a Username and Password

From the Protocol dropdown, you should select ‘SFTP’ if your hosting provider supports it, otherwise leave it as ‘FTP.’

Next, you just type your domain name such as ‘example.com’ in the Host field and select ‘Normal’ for the Logon Type.

Once you’ve entered those details, you can click on the Connect button to continue. FileZilla will now attempt to log in to your website using the credentials you entered.

Once connected, you will see two columns of files and folders. The left column lists the Local files on your computer. The right column lists the Remote files on your website. This layout lets you easily transfer files to and from your website.

Connecting to Your Website With an FTP Client

In the left column, you need to locate the ‘wordpress’ folder that you downloaded and unzipped earlier. In the right column, you need to locate the folder on your website where you need to upload these files:

  • If you want to install WordPress on your root domain name (like example.com), then you need to upload WordPress files to your website’s root directory. Usually, this directory is called /public_html/.
  • On the other hand, If you want to install WordPress in a subdirectory (like example.com/blog), then upload it to a folder /public_html/blog/.

Now you simply select all the files on the left. After that, you need to right-click the files and select Upload from the menu, or simply drag the files to the right column.

Uploading the Downloaded WordPress Files to Your Website

Your FTP client will now upload the WordPress files to your website.

Creating Your WordPress Database

Once the WordPress files are uploaded, you need to go to your hosting control panel to create a database. We’ll show you how to do that using cPanel, but if your hosting provider has a different control panel, then just look for the ‘phpMyAdmin’ option.

Launch phpMyAdmin From Your Control Panel

Clicking the ‘phpMyAdmin’ icon will open the phpMyAdmin application in a new tab. In the phpMyAdmin dashboard, click on the Databases tab.

You can now type a name for your database into the ‘Database name’ field. You can name your database anything you want. Make a note of the name because you’ll need it later.

For this tutorial, we will call our database test_db.

Creating a WordPress dashboard

After typing your database name, you should click the ‘Create’ button.

PhpMyAdmin will now go ahead and create your database.

Creating a WordPress database for your local website

Now that you’ve uploaded the WordPress files to your website and created a database, everything is ready to install WordPress.

Installing WordPress

To start installing WordPress, simply go to your website’s URL, such as example.com or www.example.com. This will open the WordPress installation wizard.

You will see the language selection page. You can choose a language here so that the rest of the installation is displayed in your own language. You can also use English for now and then later change the language or add multiple languages.

The WordPress setup wizard

Next, you can click the ‘Continue’ button to proceed.

You will now see some instructions about the installation process. You will see a list of information you need, including the database name, username, password, and host.

Installing WordPress Summary Page

After reading the screen, you should click the ‘Let’s go!’ button to continue. The setup wizard will now show you a form where you can enter the database information you created earlier.

Once you’ve done that, make sure you leave the Database Host field as the default ‘localhost.’ This just means that the database and website are hosted on the same server. Unless you changed the database prefix, the Table Prefix field should say wp_.

The MySQL database information

After filling in this information, you need to click the ‘Submit’ button. WordPress will connect to your database and show you a success message.

To move on to the next step, simply click on the ‘Run the installation’ button. WordPress will now create tables in your database and then send you to the next step of the installation.

Running the WordPress installation

The next screen will ask for some additional information.

You will need to enter the Site Title that you wish to display at the top of your website, such as your business name. You can change the title in your WordPress dashboard at any point.

You’ll also need to create a username and password. This is the login information you’ll use to access your WordPress dashboard.

Site information

You can also type your email address into the Your Email field. This is the address where WordPress will send all of its admin emails.

If you don’t want your website to be visible to search engines at this point, then you can check the box next to search engine visibility.

Later when you are ready you can change this from WordPress settings. If you are unsure about what to do, then simply leave it unchecked.

Install WordPress

After completing this form, click the ‘Install WordPress’ button. WordPress will now run the installation and after a few moments, you should see a ‘Success!’ message.

Now you can sign in to your WordPress dashboard by clicking on the ‘Log In’ button.

Log in to your admin panel

Congratulations, you have successfully installed WordPress by downloading the core software for free and then installing it manually.

How to Install WordPress Locally on Your Computer

You can also use the WordPress core files you downloaded to install WordPress on your own computer. This gives you the chance to try out WordPress before starting your blog or website. It’s also a great way to experiment with themes and plugins risk-free.

Note: If you install WordPress locally on your computer, then you will be the only person who can see it.

For WordPress to successfully run on your computer, you first need to install the software that WordPress relies on. This includes the PHP server-side programming language, the Apache web server, and the MySQL database management system.

Now, installing all these software independently and making them work with each other sounds like a daunting task.

Luckily, there are free development tools that make it super easy to install them as one package even for non-techy users. Once you install one of these applications, then you will be able to install WordPress using a method similar to the above.

We recommend using Local WP to install WordPress on your computer. Here are detailed tutorial on how to install WordPress on Windows, and how to install WordPress on Mac.

Local by Flywheel

Note: When you’re using Local WP, you don’t need to manually download and install WordPress on your computer. It can help you do that with just a few clicks.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to download and manually install WordPress for free. You may also want to learn how to keep your WordPress site secure, or check out our list of must-have plugins to grow your site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Download WordPress for Free (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Show Before and After Photo in WordPress (with Slide Effect)

Do you want to show a before and after photo in WordPress?

A before and after photo allows you to show a side by side comparison of two images with minor differences. This is perfect for showing the impact of your products and services, or simply encouraging people to interact with your content.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add a before/after photo to your WordPress website with a slide effect.

How to show before and after photo in WordPress (with slide effect)

Why Show Before and After Photos in WordPress (with Slide Effect)?

A before-and-after image is an interactive picture that typically shows some kind of change.

Visitors can use a slider to switch between the different ‘versions’ of the image in an engaging and interactive way.

How to show before and after photo in WordPress (with slide effect)

If you run an online store using a plugin such as WooCommerce, then a before and after photo can show the effect of your products or services.

You simply need to show a ‘before’ photo that the customer can relate to, and a desirable ‘after’ photo. This will make shoppers want to buy the thing that takes them from the ‘before’ state to the ‘after’ state.

If you’re an affiliate marketer, then showing persuasive before and after photos on your website is a great way to promote your affiliate links, and get more sales.

Before and after photos can also encourage visitors to interact with your content. Dragging a slider to reveal the ‘after’ photo is an easy way to get more engagement, which can keep visitors on your site for longer. This can also help increase your pageviews and reduce bounce rate in WordPress.

With that being said, let’s see how you can create a before and after photo in WordPress using a slide effect. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

Method 1. How to Show Before and After Photos Using a Free Plugin (Easy)

The easiest way to create before and after photos is by using the Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery (BEA).

The BEA plugin allows you to create horizontal and vertical sliders, and customize the image with different labels and colors.

An example of a before and after slider in WordPress

The first thing you need to do is to install and activate the Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery (BEA) plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Before and After Slider » Add New in your dashboard.

To start, type in a name for the image slider. This is just for your reference so you can use anything that will help you identify it.

How to create a side by side comparison image in WordPress

With that done, you can add the ‘before’ image by scrolling to the ‘Before Image’ section.

Here, click on ‘Add or Upload Image’ and then either choose a picture from the WordPress media library or upload a new file from your computer.

How to add a before comparison image to a WordPress website

To help search engines understand this image and show it to the right people, it’s a good idea to add some image alt text. To do this, simply type into the ‘Image Alt’ field.

For more information about alt text, please see our beginner’s guide to image SEO.

Adding image alt text to a before and after image

With that done, scroll to the ‘After Image’ section.

You can now add the ‘after’ image by following the same process described above. Don’t forget to add some alt text to this image, too, since it’s important for WordPress SEO.

Adding an 'after' comparison image to a website or blog

You can also show some text below the image, by adding a title and a description.

For example, you might encourage visitors to interact with the slider. This is especially important for visitors who might have never run across a before-and-after photo before.

An example of a comparison image with a title and description

This is also an easy way to add some context to the image.

To add some text, simply type into the ‘Slider Title’ or ‘Slider Description’ fields.

Adding a description to a before and after image

You can also add a ‘Read More’ URL, which can link to any post or page on your WordPress website, or even an external website. For example, you might send visitors to a page where they can buy the product featured in the slider image.

This link will appear below the before/after image, and also beneath any slider title or description you’re using.

Adding a Read More link to a comparison image with a slide effect

To add a link, type the destination into the ‘Read More Link’ field.

You can then decide whether to open the link in the same tab, or in a new tab using the ‘Read More Link Target’ dropdown.

How to add a link to a Read More button

If you’re linking to another website, then we recommend choosing ‘New tab’ so you’re not sending visitors away from your WordPress blog.

With that done, you can choose whether you want to create a vertical or horizontal slider by clicking on one of the thumbnails in the ‘Orientation Style’ section.

Creating a vertical or horizontal slide effect in WordPress

After that, scroll to the top of the screen and click on ‘Options.’

Here, you’ll see the ‘Default offset’ is set 0.5. This means the visitor sees half of the ‘before’ image when the page first loads.

How to customize a before and after slider in WordPress

If you want to show more of the before image, then type in a bigger number such as 0.6, 0.7, or higher.

If you want to show the entire before image, then type in 1. This will place the slider at the top or right of the before image, as you can see in the following image.

Customizing a side by side comparison image with a slide effect

By default, the plugin shows ‘Before’ and ‘After’ labels when the visitor hovers their mouse over the image.

You may want to replace these labels with something more descriptive.

Adding custom labels to a before/after slider

To do this, simply go ahead and type into the ‘Before Label’ and ‘After Label’ fields.

By default, visitors will move the slider using drag and drop. Some people may find this difficult, especially if they have mobility issues or they’re using smaller devices like smartphones or tablets.

With that being said, you may want to change how visitors move the slider.

If you select the ‘Yes’ button next to ‘Move slider on mouse hover,’ then visitors can move the slider simply by hovering their mouse over the image.

Creating a custom slide effect on a before and after image

If you select the ‘Yes’ button next to ‘Click to move,’ then visitors can click anywhere on the image to move the slider to that point.

These settings can make it easier to interact with the before/after image, but it’s typically not the way that sliders behave. With that in mind, we recommend using these settings carefully.

Next, click on the ‘Style’ tab.

Changing the style of a slide effect on a website or blog

Here, you can change the colors used for the different labels, backgrounds, headings, descriptions, and the read more button. This can help the before/after image blend in with your WordPress theme, or even stand out from the rest of your website’s design.

You can also change the font size and text alignment.

When you’re happy with how the slider is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button.

Publishing a before and after photo to your WordPress website

This creates a shortcode that allows you to add the before/after image and slider to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

For more information on how to place the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Adding a slide effect to your WordPress images using shortcode

After adding the shortcode to your site, simply click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to make the before/after image and slider effect live.

Method 2. How to Show A Before and After Photo Using SeedProd (Advanced)

If you simply want to add a before and after image to a page or post, then the BEA plugin may be a good choice. However, if you’re using the image to promote a product, service, or business then we recommend using SeedProd.

SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder. It comes with more than 180 ready-made templates that you can use to create high-converting landing pages, sales designs, and more.

SeedProd's ready-made templates

It also has a ready-made ‘Before After Toggle’ block that you can use to create beautiful before-and-after images your users can interact with.

Simply drag the block from the left-hand menu, and then drop it onto any page design that you may happen to be working on, including sales pages.

A before and after image created using SeedProd

If you’re using WooCommerce to sell your products, then SeedProd integrates with WooCommerce and even comes with special eCommerce blocks. This is perfect if you plan to use before and after images to promote your WooCommerce products.

Note: There is a free version of SeedProd that allows you to create custom pages no matter your budget. However, we’ll be using the premium version as it comes with the Before After Toggle block. It also integrates with many of the best email marketing services you may already be using on your website.

For information on how to use SeedProd, please see our guide on how to create a custom page in WordPress.

After creating a page, it’s easy to add a before and after image to your design. In the SeedProd page editor, simply find the ‘Before After Toggle’ block.

The SeedProd before and after toggle block

You can then drag and drop this block anywhere on your design, to add it to the page layout.

With that done, simply click to select the ‘Before After Toggle’ block. The left-hand menu will now update to show all the settings you can use to create your before-and-after image.

SeedProd's before and after toggle settings

To start, you’ll need to add the picture you want to use as the before image. Under ‘Before Image’ either click on ‘Use Your Own Image’ or ‘Use a Stock Image’ and choose the picture you want to use.

By default, SeedProd shows a ‘Before’ label above this image. However, you can change this to something more descriptive by typing it into the ‘Before Label’ field.

Creating a before and after image using a page builder plugin

With that done, scroll to the ‘After Image’ section.

You can now add an image and customize the default ‘After’ label by following the same process described above.

Adding an after image to a custom page layout

SeedProd can add a vertical or horizontal slide effect.

To switch between these two styles, scroll to the ‘Slider Orientation’ section and then click on either ‘Vertical’ or ‘Horizontal.’

A before and after image with a slider

By default, visitors will move between the before and after images by dragging the slider. However, some users may find it easier to move the slider by hovering their mouse over the image.

This is particularly true for larger images where the visitor would need to drag the slider a greater distance.

To try this setting, enable ‘Move on Hover’ in the left-hand menu.

Next, you may want to add a colored overlay to both the before and after images. This can help the image blend in with the rest of the color scheme, or stand out from the background.

You can even make the colored overlay semi-transparent, to create a more subtle effect.

To try different colors, click on the ‘Overlay Color’ section and then make your changes in the popup that appears.

Adding an overlay color to an interactive image using SeedProd

With that done, you can customize the slider handle by clicking to expand the ‘Comparison Handle’ section.

By default, SeedProd shows half of the ‘before’ image and half of the ‘after’ image. To change this, simply drag the ‘Handle Initial Offset’ slider.

Changing the initial offset on a before/after picture

To display less of the before image, drag the slider to the left so that it shows a lower number. To show more of the before image, drag the slider to the right, which increases the number.

Next, you can change the slider’s color using the ‘Handle Color’ settings.

How to customize a slider using SeedProd

You can also make the handle thicker or thinner using the ‘Handle Thickness’ slider.

In this way, you can make the handle stand out, or create a more subtle effect.

Changing the thickness of a slider using SeedProd

When you’re happy with the handle, you may want to change the circle. You can make the circle bigger or smaller using the ‘Circle Width’ settings, and change the ‘Circle Radius’ to create sharp or curved corners.

As you make changes, the live preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best.

Changing the width and radius of the slider circle

When you’re happy with the circle, you may want to change the size of the triangles inside that circle. For example, if you’ve made the circle bigger then you might want to increase the size of the triangles too.

To make this change, drag the ‘Triangle Size’ slider until you’re happy with how it looks.

How to customize a slider using a page builder plugin

With that done, you can continue adding new blocks and customizing the content on your SeedProd page.

When you’re happy with how the page looks, just click on the arrow next to the ‘Save’ button and then select ‘Publish.’

Publishing a before and after image using SeedProd

Now if you visit your website you’ll see your page design with the before-and after-image live.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a before and after photo to your WordPress website with a slide effect. You can also go through our guide on the best social proof plugins for WordPress and how to choose the best web design software.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Show Before and After Photo in WordPress (with Slide Effect) first appeared on WPBeginner.

The Importance of User Experience and Design in Responsive Themes

To say that user experience is an important factor in responsive theme design is like saying human safety is important to the production of car seatbelts.  In other words, it’s the very reason it exists and the top concern that should influence every design decision. Of course, that begins with the fundamentals of responsive design, [...]

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The post The Importance of User Experience and Design in Responsive Themes appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.

How to Automatically Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping

Do you want to add your WordPress products to Google Shopping?

Adding your online store products to Google Shopping can help you increase traffic, reach more customers, and generate greater revenue.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add WordPress products to Google Shopping.

How to Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping

Why Should You Add WordPress Products to Google Shopping

Google Shopping is a virtual marketplace like Amazon and Etsy, where users can search, view, and compare products from different online stores that have paid to advertise their products.

If you have a WooCommerce store, then adding your products to Google Shopping can prove to be extremely beneficial for your business.

Your products will be shown to all users browsing through Google shopping which will increase traffic on your WordPress website, generate more revenue and bring in more customers.

Google Shopping

That being said, let’s see how you can add WordPress products to Google Shopping.

How to Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping

Step 1: Creating a Google Merchant Account

To add your products to Google Shopping, you have to start by creating an account in the Google Merchant Center. This is the place where your product information will be stored for viewing by Google Shopping.

First, go to the Google Merchant Center page and click the ‘Sign up for free’ button.

Sign up for the Google Merchant account

After that, Google will ask you about your online business.

Just check the answers that apply to you, and then provide your website’s URL.

Provide the URL of your online store

After you’ve provided the details, you’ll be redirected to another page.

Here, you simply have to click the ‘Create a Google Merchant Account’ button at the bottom of the page.

Click the Create Google Merchant Account button

Now, you will be asked to provide your business details. You can start by writing your business name.

Next, select the country where your business is based from the dropdown menu below the ‘Registered Country’ option.

After that, click the ‘Continue to Merchant Center’ button.

Provide business details

You’ve successfully created your Google Merchant Account. Now all you have to do is provide your business info and shipping details.

Once you’ve filled in those details, simply click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom to store your settings.

Provide shipping and business details once a GMC account is created
Step 2: Linking Your Google AdWords Account

Now you’ll have to link your Google AdWords account to your Google Merchant Center account so that you can show your products via Google Shopping.

To link your account, simply go to the Google Merchant Center dashboard and click the gear icon at the top of the page.

Clicking it will open up a ‘Tools and Settings’ prompt. Here you simply have to choose the ‘Linked Account’ option present.

Click the Linked Accounts option from the Settings

This will take you to the ‘Linked Accounts’ page.

Now you simply have to click the ‘+’ button to create your Google Ads account.

Click the Plus button to create a Google Ads account

This will open up a ‘Create Your Google Ads Account’ prompt.

Simply choose your preferred time zone and currency and then click the ‘Create’ button.

Create a Google Ads account

You have now successfully created your Google Ads account.

This is how it will look once your account has been created.

GMC account has now been linked to the Google Ads account
Step 3: Adding WordPress Products to Google Shopping

To add your WordPress products to Google Shopping, we will be using the ELEX Google Shopping plugin to display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping.

First, you need to do is install and activate the ELEX Google Shopping plugin. For more instructions, check our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head over to the Google Shopping Feed » Create Feeds page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

From here, simply fill in your business details and click the ‘Continue’ button at the bottom.

Fill basic info on the Google Shopping Feed page

Next, you’ll be taken to the ‘Map Category’ page. Here you simply have to select your product categories.

Simply type your product categories in the ‘Google Categories’ tab and click ‘Continue’

Select Map Category

After that, you’ll be directed to the ‘Map Attributes’ page.

This is where you’ll have to fill in your product details including product id, product description, product link, pricing, image, and more.

Here select and fill in as many attributes as possible for more visibility in Google Shopping and click the ‘Continue’ button.

Map attributes

Now that you’re on the ‘Filtering Options’ page, simply fill in the details as required for your online store.

For example, you can include how many items you have in stock or note how many have sold already.

Next, simply click the ‘Generate Feed’ button at the bottom.

Click the Generate Feed button

After you’ve created your Google Shopping feed, go to the Google Shopping Feed » Manage Feeds page from the admin sidebar.

Here you will be able to view your Google Shopping Feed. Now you have to simply click the ‘Download’ button beside it.

Click the Download button

Once you’ve downloaded your feed as an XML file, go back to the ‘Google Merchant Center’ dashboard and click the Products » Feeds option from the sidebar.

This will open up the ‘Primary Feeds’ page where you have to click the ‘+’ button to add a new feed.

Click the plus button to create a feed

This will take you to the ‘New Primary Feed’ page where you can start by filling in basic details. First, start by adding all your target countries.

Next, select your preferred language and then click the ‘Continue’ button.

Fill in basic details

Then, you have to choose a name for your feed and select a method to connect your data to the Merchant center.

For this tutorial, we will be uploading the feed XML from WordPress.

After that, just click on the ‘Continue’ button.

Choose a name and method for uploading the feed

Now that you’re on the ‘Setup’ page, simply type the name for your Google Shopping Feed.

Next, just upload the Feed file you got from WordPress and click the ‘Create Feed’ button.

Upload file and click the Create Feed button

You have now successfully added your WordPress products to Google Shopping.

Bonus: How to Add Google Merchant Center Schema in WordPress

To improve your product search visibility in Google Shopping and increase conversion rates, you should add a Google Merchant schema in WordPress.

Schema markup is an HTML code that provides more details about your products to search engines.

A GMC listing schema will make your search snippets more prominent and will allow your products to be featured as popular products for the relevant search terms.

The easiest way to add a Google Merchant Center listing schema to WordPress is by using the All in One SEO for WordPress.

It is the best SEO plugin for WordPress that is used by over 3 million websites.

First, you need to install and activate the All in One SEO for WordPress. For more instructions, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, a setup wizard will open up. Simply go ahead and click the ‘Get Started’ button.

All in One SEO setup

After that, you need to follow the onscreen instructions in the setup wizard to configure the plugin. If you need help, please see our guide on how to properly set up AIOSEO in WordPress.

After the AIOSEO plugin has been set up, you need to visit the Products » All Products page from the admin sidebar.

From here, simply click on the ‘Edit’ link below a product to open up the ‘Edit Product’ page.

Click the Edit link below the product name

Once there, you need to scroll down to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section and click on the ‘Schema’ tab.

Now, you need to make sure that the schema type is set to ‘Product’ by default.

If that is not the case, then simply click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

Click the Generate Schema button to add another schema

It will open up the Schema Catalog which will list all the available schema templates.

From here, you need to click the ‘Add Schema’ (+) button beside the Product option to set it as your primary schema.

Note: You may see the ‘Article’ schema already applied. If so, you can remove it as you add the new one because this particular page isn’t an article or blog post in Google’s eyes.

Click the Add Schema button next to the Product option

Next, you will need to fill in the product information to add the GMC listing schema.

For that, you need to click the ‘Edit Schema’ button next to the ‘Schema in Use’ option.

Click the Edit button next to the Schema in use option

This will open up the ‘Edit Product’ modal where you will need to fill in the product details.

If you’re using WooCommerce, then AIOSEO will automatically pull most of the product data from your product information.

However, if you want to fill in the information manually, you need to simply toggle the ‘Autogenerate Fields’ switch to ‘No.’

Toggle the Autogenerate fields switch to No

The product attributes that you will need to add include the product name, description, image, ISBN, price, material, color, shipping details, and more.

We recommend that you provide all the details so that the schema markup can make your product snippets more engaging.

Once you’re done, simply click the ‘Update Schema’ or ‘Add Schema’ button to store your settings.

Click the Update Schema button

You have now successfully added the Google Merchant Center listing schema to WordPress, and your products can now be featured on the platform and hopefully earn you more sales.

We hope you learned how to add WordPress products to Google Shopping. You may also want to check out our best WooCommerce reporting and analytics plugins and our article on how to speed up your eCommerce website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Automatically Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping first appeared on WPBeginner.

WordPress Conversion Tracking Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

Do you want to add conversion tracking features to your WordPress website?

Conversion tracking helps you measure the impact of your marketing efforts and makes it easier to understand how users interact with your website.

In this guide, we will show you how to add conversion tracking in WordPress and track your conversions like a total pro.

Ultimate Guide to conversion tracking in WordPress

This is a comprehensive WordPress conversion tracking guide, so we have divided it up into different sections. Here is what we’ll cover in this guide:

What is Conversion Tracking?

Conversion tracking is the ability to track and measure the success of your various marketing efforts.

Depending on your business, the conversion is the desired action you want users to perform on your website.

  • For an online store or eCommerce website, a conversion could be a successful purchase.
  • For a news/blog site, the conversion could be a successful subscription to the email newsletter.
  • For a professional services website, a conversion could be a user filling up a contact form.

Simply put, conversion tracking shows you how many of your website visitors successfully perform the desired action.

Why is Conversion Tracking Important?

Conversion tracking is important because it helps you make data-driven decisions to grow your business.

For instance, it shows that users from a specific traffic source are more likely to convert. You can then focus your attention on getting more traffic from that particular source.

Conversion tracking also helps you uncover the users who are not converting so well.

For instance, you may learn that users open the contact page, but many abandon it before submitting the form. You can then make your form easier by removing unnecessary fields, making it conversational, changing colors, setting up partial form submission, etc.

Basically, you need conversion tracking to measure your success and failures and then improve upon them to grow your online business.

That being said, let’s take a look at what tools we’ll need to set up conversion tracking in WordPress.

Tools You Need to Setup Conversion Tracking in WordPress

Most conversion optimization experts rely heavily on Google Analytics. It is a free tool provided by Google that helps you track your website traffic.

It shows where your users are coming from, and what they do while on your website.

If you are running Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and Twitter Ads to promote your business, then you’ll need to set up those for conversion tracking.

This may sound complicated, but you’ll only have to set it up once, and we’ll walk you through every step of the way.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Setting Up Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics

First, you need to install Google Analytics on your website.

The easiest way to do this is by using MonsterInsights. It is the best Google Analytics plugin on the market that comes with enhanced eCommerce tracking, form tracking, and other conversion tracking tools built-in.

You’ll need the PRO version of the plugin to access eCommerce and other conversion tracking features. For basic tracking, the free version works as well.

Simply install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll see the setup wizard. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button.

Launch setup wizard

Next, you can follow the on-screen instructions to connect your WordPress site to Google Analytics using MonsterInsights. For more details, see our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

With MonsterInsights, you can also easily create a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property. GA4 is the latest version of the famous analytics platform, and it will replace the old version on July 1, 2023.

To learn more, please see our guide on how to switch to Google Analytics 4 in WordPress.

Now that you have installed Google Analytics, let’s set up conversion tracking on your website.

Turning on Enhanced Ecommerce Conversion Tracking

Ecommerce tracking helps you see which products are doing well on your site, which products are being looked at but not purchased, and what’s bringing you the most revenue.

Google Analytics comes with enhanced eCommerce tracking, which works for most eCommerce websites, including WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, and more. However, you’ll need to enable it for your website manually.

Step 1. Turn on eCommerce Tracking in MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights comes with an eCommerce addon that lets you properly set up eCommerce conversion tracking in Google Analytics.

It works with all top eCommerce platforms for WordPress, including WooCommerce, MemberPress, LifterLMS, Easy Digital Downloads, and more.

First, you need to visit the Insights » Addons page to install and activate the eCommerce addon.

Install the eCommerce addon

Step 2. Turn on Enhanced Ecommerce in Google Analytics

Next, you need to enable enhanced eCommerce tracking in your Google Analytics account. Go to your Google Analytics dashboard and select your website.

From here, you need to click on the Admin button located at the bottom left corner of the screen.

Go to admin settings

On the next screen, you’ll see different Google Analytics settings.

Under the ‘View’ column, click the ‘Ecommerce Settings’ link.

Ecommerce settings

After that, you need to turn on the ‘Enable Ecommerce’ and ‘Enable Enhanced Ecommerce Reporting’ options.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button when you’re done.

Enable ecommerce and enhanced ecommerce reporting

Google Analytics will now turn on the eCommerce reporting feature for your account.

Afterward, you can return to your WordPress dashboard and visit the Insights » Settings page. From here, switch to the eCommerce tab.

Use enhanced ecommerce option

MonsterInsights will automatically detect your eCommerce software and enable advanced eCommerce tracking for your store.

Note: the manual process for adding eCommerce conversion tracking has a lot of room for errors, so we strongly recommend using a plugin like MonsterInsights.

Viewing eCommerce Conversion Tracking Reports

Now that you have enabled eCommerce conversion tracking on your website. Let’s see how to view these reports and use them to make informed decisions about your business.

Ecommerce Conversion Reports in MonsterInsights

Simply go to the Insights » Reports page inside the WordPress admin area and then switch to the eCommerce tab.

Ecommerce report in MonsterInsights

At the top, you’ll see your most important metrics, like the conversion rate, transactions, revenue, and average order value.

Below that, you will see a list of your top products with quantity, sale percentage, and total revenue. This shows you which products are doing well in your store.

Next, you’ll see your top conversion sources with the number of visits, conversion share, and revenue. You can see which sources are bringing you more revenue and which traffic sources are not very effective.

Top conversion sources

MonsterInsights will also show you shopper behavior reports with the number of times products were added to and removed from the cart.

That’s not all the data. You can drill down these reports even further inside Google Analytics.

Ecommerce Conversion Reports in Google Analytics

In Google Analytics 4, you can head to Reports » Monetization » Overview to view the report.

View ecommerce report in GA4

Here, you can see the total revenue your online store is making. Besides that, there are more metrics you can track, like items purchased, first-time purchasers, and total purchases.

On the other hand, you can visit your Universal Analytics dashboard and click on the Conversions » Ecommerce from the left column.

Ecommerce report in analytics

The overview section offers the most important stats, such as revenue, conversion rate, transactions, and average order value.

You can further drill down to view different reports. For example, you can switch to shopping and checkout behavior reports to see how users reach the conversion page. You can also figure out what stopped them at the last minute from completing the transaction.

You may also want to see our guide on how to set up WooCommerce conversion tracking.

Turning on Form Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics

Not all websites use an eCommerce platform to conduct business. For instance, a restaurant website may use an order delivery form, or a salon may use a booking form.

Many businesses use contact forms to capture leads from their website. A lot of news and blogs use an email newsletter to convert website visitors into subscribers.

To track them, you need to enable form conversion tracking in Google Analytics.

MonsterInsights comes with a Forms addon that lets you easily track form conversions on your WordPress site. It works with all popular WordPress form plugins, including WPForms, Formidable Forms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, and more.

Simply go to the Insights » Addons page. Scroll down to the ‘Forms’ addon, and then click on the Install button.

Install forms addon

Upon activation, you need to visit the Insights » Settings page and switch to the ‘Conversions’ tab.

MonsterInsights will automatically detect your WordPress form plugin and will also start tracking miscellaneous WordPress forms on your site.

MonsterInsights settings - conversions tab

Viewing Your Form Conversion Reports

You can now view your form conversion reports inside your WordPress admin area.

Head over to the Insights » Reports page and switch to the ‘Forms’ tab.

Forms report

You’ll see a list of forms on your website with their impressions, conversion, and conversion rates.

This helps in tracking how each WordPress form is performing. You can optimize low-converting forms while increasing the visibility of high-converting forms.

For more details, please see our guide on how to set up form tracking in Google Analytics.

Setting Up Goals for Conversion Tracking in Universal Analytics

So far, we have covered how to track eCommerce and form conversions.

What if you wanted to manually set up conversion goals and track them in Google Analytics?

For instance, you may want to consider users visiting a specific page as a conversion. Since it is not a form submission or an eCommerce transaction, it will not appear as a conversion in your reports.

Universal Analytics allows you to create your own goals and track their conversion.

However, an important thing to note is that Google Analytics 4 doesn’t have goals anymore. It is one of the major differences you’ll see between the new and old versions.

That said, let’s see how to set them up in Universal Analytics and track them on your website.

Go to the Google Analytics dashboard and click the ‘Admin’ tab on the bottom left. Then, in the View column, click on Goals.

Click on goals

Now, you will need to create a new goal.

Simply click the ‘+ New Goal’ button to set up a new goal.

Add a new goal

Next, you will need to select the goal type. Universal Analytics offers 4 types:

  • Destination: This tracks whether a visitor went to a specific page. This could be a thank you page or any conversion page on your site.
  • Duration: This tracks how long a visitor spends on your website. More time spent on a website means more engagement.
  • Pages/Screens per session: This tracks how many pages an average visitor looks at on your site.
  • Event: This can track all sorts of things, like button clicks, video plays, and downloads. It requires a bit more setup than the other options.

Destination and Event types are the most commonly used goal types for most businesses.

For this tutorial, we will create a ‘Destination’ goal to track visitors who view our thank you page after completing a form.

First, provide a name for your Goal. It needs to be something meaningful so that you can easily identify it in your Google Analytics reports.

After that, choose ‘Destination’ as your goal type and click the Continue button.

Enter goal description

Now you can simply provide the last part of the URL you want to track as the destination.

For instance, if your page is:
https://www.example.com/thank-you-for-booking/

Then you should enter the following:
/thank-you-for-booking/

Add goal details

Below that, you can optionally add value for the conversion. This makes sense if people are completing a payment form or if you know how much each lead is worth to you on average.

If you want to track a funnel, such as a customer moving through a checkout process, then you can also do this as part of the destination goal. This can help you pinpoint areas you might want to improve.

Once you’re happy with your goal, click the Save button. You should then see your goal listed in a table. You can edit it, switch it off and on, or create more goals here.

View new goal

Viewing Your Goal Conversions in Universal Analytics

Now that you have created your goal, allow Google Analytics to collect some data. After that, you can view your Goal Conversion report under the Google Analytics dashboard.

Simply, go to the Conversions » Goals and then click on Overview.

View goal conversions in analytics

Like all Google Analytics reports, you can drill down to view visitor journeys and get deeper insights.

For more details, see our complete guide on setting up goals in Google Analytics.

Setting Up Events in Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 replaces goals with events. You can manually configure events to track different user interactions in GA4.

First, you’ll need to go to the ‘Admin’ settings from your GA4 property.

Go to admin settings

Next, you will need to navigate to the Property column.

After that, simply click the ‘Event’s option.

Go to events settings

You are now ready to create a new event in GA4.

Simply click the ‘Create event’ button to get started.

Create a new event

You should now see a new window slide in from the right. This is where all your custom events will be listed.

Go ahead and click the ‘Create’ button.

Create a custom event

On the next screen, you can enter details of your new event.

Google Analytics 4 already has pre-built events. Simply click the Custom event name dropdown menu and choose an event. For example, we’ll select the ‘file_download’ event for this tutorial.

Select an event name

GA4 will automatically enter the specific Parameter and Operator for your custom event.

Next, you can enter a value for your event. For instance, we will enter ‘.pdf’ since we want to track PDF file downloads. However, you can enter any specific word you use to organize filenames on your site.

Enter event parameter operator and value

After entering these details, click the ‘Create’ button at the top.

You will now see your new custom event listed under the Custom events area in GA4.

View custom event

Viewing Your Event Conversions in Google Analytics 4

Now that you’ve created a custom event in GA4, the next step is to view the conversions.

To do that, simply head to Reports » Engagement » Event: Event name from the menu on your left and view the report.

View custom events data

You can now repeat this step to track other custom events.

That said, an easier way of tracking user behavior is by using MonsterInsights. The plugin automatically sets up different events in Google Analytics.

This way, you don’t have to manually configure events or worry about messing up your tracking.

Google Ads Conversion Tracking in WordPress

If you run Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) to bring targeted traffic to your website, then you may want to track those conversions.

Setting up is a bit complicated because it requires adding code to your website. However, with MonsterInsights, you can easily set up Google Ads conversion tracking without editing code or hiring a developer.

First, you can go to Insights » Addons from your WordPress dashboard and install the Ads addon.

Install the ads addon

Once you install the addon, it should automatically activate.

From here, you can go to Insights » Settings and head to the Publisher tab.

Publisher settings in MonsterInsights

Next, you can scroll down to the ‘Ads Tracking’ section.

Here, you will need to enter the Conversion ID, which will be in this format: AW-123456789.

Enter conversion ID and label

If you’re tracking Google Ads on an eCommerce store, then you can also enter the Conversion Label.

To find the Conversion ID and Conversion Label, you’ll need to go to your Google Ads dashboard and create a conversion action.

For more details, please follow our step-by-step guide on how to set up Google Ads conversion tracking in WordPress.

Viewing Google Ads Conversion Reports in Google Analytics 4

Your Google Ads conversion tracking will now appear in your Google Analytics reports.

In Google Analytics 4, you can head to Acquisition » Acquisition overview and then navigate to the ‘Session Google Ads’ report.

After that, click the ‘View Google Ads campaigns’ option at the bottom of the report.

View session google ads campaign report

This will expand the report and show more details about your ad campaigns.

You can see the total number of users, sessions, Google Ads clicks, and more.

View detailed stats for each campaign

Viewing Google Ads Conversion Reports in Universal Analytics

For Universal Analytics, you can open your website property.

After that, view the Google Ads report by going to the Acquisition » Google Ads » Campaigns section. Here, you can see conversions for all your paid campaigns.

View Google ads report in UA

Use UTM Parameters for Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics

UTM parameters are special tags you can add to URLs to pass important information to Google Analytics.

For instance, if you want to track users coming from a particular ad, then you can add UTM parameters to your ad URL like this:

https://yourwebsite.com/special-offer/?utm_source=ads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=bfad

You can also use UTM parameters anywhere you want to share your URLs.

For instance, your email newsletter, Tweets, SMS campaigns, and more.

https://yourwebsite.com/special-offer/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jan_sale

MonsterInsights makes it super easy to build URLs with UTM parameters. Simply head over to the Insights » Tools page and select the ‘URL Builder’ tab.

Go to tools in MonsterInsights

Simply enter the UTM parameters you want to use, and it will automatically generate the URL, which you can then use in your campaigns.

For instance, you can enter a campaign source, like a newsletter or Google, which tells you where the users are coming from. After that, you can define a campaign medium, such as emails or banner ads, and enter a campaign name.

Enter campaign source and medium

MonsterInsights will also give you additional options to add campaign terms and content.

This is useful if you’re split-testing different emails or paid campaigns.

For creating a custom URL, you can leave these options blank.

Additional options in URL builder

Next, you can scroll down to the bottom to see your custom URL.

Go ahead and use the link for campaigns and track conversions on your website.

The URL created by the MonsterInsights URL builder tool, with UTM parameters in place

Viewing UTM Parameter Reports in Google Analytics 4

Now that you’ve added UTM parameters to a URL, you can track its performance in Google Analytics.

First, log in to your GA4 account. After that, head to Reports » Acquisition » Traffic Acquisition from the menu on your left.

View traffic acquisition report

You should now see traffic from different sources on your website, such as organic search, email, display, and more.

You can use the search bar to filter the traffic source for your custom campaign. For example, if you’re tracking conversions from a newsletter, then you can look up ‘Email’ in the report.

View different traffic sources

After that, you further drill down and filter your traffic.

Simply click the ‘+’ button under the search bar.

Click the plus button

GA4 will then show different options to filter your traffic.

You can select Traffic source » Session source from the dropdown list.

Select session source

Next, Google Analytics will list your email campaigns.

You can now see which campaign performs best and gets the most conversions.

View newsletter URL report in ga4

Viewing UTM Parameter Reports in Universal Analytics

In Universal Analytics, you can track the conversions of your campaigns under your Google Analytics dashboard.

Simply switch to the Acquisition » Campaigns » All Campaigns report.

Go to all campaigns

Your campaigns will appear here.

You can click on any of them to drill down further.

View newsletter tracking report

Setting Up Facebook Conversion Tracking in WordPress

Facebook is the largest social media website on the planet, with billions of active users. This is why Facebook ads are sometimes the easiest way to reach a niche audience.

Now, if you are running Facebook ads, then you may want to see how well your ads are doing by implementing conversion tracking for your Facebook ads.

Usually, you’d need to add a code snippet to your WordPress website to track Facebook conversions. However, WPCode makes it very simple, and you can simply enter the Facebook Pixel ID to set up tracking.

First, you’ll need to log in to Facebook and visit the Meta Business Suite. Then, click on All Tools » Events Manager.

Go to event manager

Next, you need to add a data source to the Event Manager.

Simply click the ‘+ Connect to Data Sources’ button in the left-hand menu.

Connect data source

You should now see different options to connect your new data source.

Go ahead and select the ‘Web’ option and click the ‘Connect’ button to continue.

Connect new data source

After that, enter a name for your pixel.

Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Create Pixel’ button.

Create a Facebook pixel

Next, you need to choose how to connect your website and send activity to Facebook.

At the bottom, you will see the Facebook Pixel. Go ahead and copy the pixel ID.

Choose how to connect to your site

Next, you can return to your WordPress website dashboard and install and activate the WPCode Free Plugin plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note that you’ll need at least the WPCode Plus plan because it includes the Conversion Pixel Addon. However, there is also a free version of WPCode you can use to get started.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Code Snippets » Conversion Pixel page and go to the Facebook tab. From here, you need to paste the Facebook Pixel ID in the respective field.

Add Facebook pixel ID

WPCode will now automatically add the code to your site that’s needed to track Facebook ad conversions.

Setting Up Twitter Conversion Tracking in WordPress

If you run Twitter Ads to promote your business, then you’ll need to set up Twitter conversion tracking to measure the success of your ads.

Simply log in to your Twitter Ads account and click on the Tools » Event manager from the menu at the top.

Twitter event manager

You should now see a pixel created by Twitter.

Go ahead and click the ‘View Twitter Pixel’ option.

View the Twitter pixel

On the next screen, you will see different options to add the Twitter pixel to your site.

You can use the ‘Pixel Code’ method and simply copy the code.

Copy the pixel code

You will need to add this code to the header of your WordPress site.

First, you need to switch back to your WordPress website’s admin area.

If you haven’t already done so, then go ahead and install and activate the WPCode plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Code Snippets » Header & Footer page. Now you can paste the Twitter pixel code into the Header section.

Enter the Twitter pixel

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

After you have successfully installed the pixel code, you can track conversions on your Twitter Ads account.

Optimizing Conversion Rates to Boost Sales

Once you start tracking conversions on your website, the next step is to improve those conversion rates.

You’d be surprised how little things can make a huge impact on your business.

The best way to improve your conversions is by using OptinMonster. It is the best conversion optimization software on the market and helps you convert more visitors into customers.

OptinMonster comes with tools like lightbox popups, fullscreen welcome mats, countdown timers, slide-in boxes, and more.

Choose a campaign type and template

It integrates with any email marketing service and works with all popular eCommerce platforms.

OptinMonster’s display rules allow you to show targeted messages to your customers at the precise time and nudge them into making a buying decision.

Upsell popup preview

For instance, if you notice that customers are leaving a product page without taking any action, then you can offer them a discount when they are about to exit.

Similarly, you can run time-sensitive campaigns to trigger the FOMO effect and give customers a nudge in the right direction.

For more practical tips, see our guide on how ways to recover WooCommerce abandoned cart sales.

We hope this guide helped you set up conversion tracking in WordPress. You may also want to see our comparison of the best email marketing services and the ultimate guide to WordPress speed and performance.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post WordPress Conversion Tracking Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide first appeared on WPBeginner.

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